1. The Civil Rights Movement The Triumphs of a Crusade

2. Riding for Freedom Freedom Riders: civil rights activists who rode buses throughout the South to challenge segregation in interstate travel facilities Birmingham, Alabama –White racists got to Bus One carrying chains, brass knuckles and pistols –Brutally beat riders Anniston, Alabama –200 angry whites attacked Bus Two –Threw a fire bomb on the bus –Freedom riders escaped unharmed

3. Riding For Freedom

4. New Volunteers Bus companies refused to carry the CORE freedom riders any farther SNCC offered to pick up where CORE left off SNCC freedom riders rode into Birmingham where police pulled them from the bus, beat them and drove them into Tennessee Defiantly, they returned and sat in the whites only waiting room in protest Bobby Kennedy’s angry phone call 400 US Marshalls to protect them on the last part of their journey to Jackson, MS Interstate Commerce Commission banned segregation in all interstate travel facilities

5. Standing Firm Integrating Ole Miss –Air Force veteran James Meredith won a federal court case that allowed him to enroll at an all white University of Mississippi –During registration, Governor Ross Barnett refused to let him register –President Kennedy ordered federal marshals to escort Meredith –Klan shot up his parent’s house –Barnett responded with a heated radio appeal to whites –September 30 th, riots broke out resulting in two deaths, 200 arrests and 15 hours to break it up

6. James Meredith and Ole Miss

7. Heading into Birmingham Birmingham was known for total segregation in public life and racial violence “Most segregated city in America” Days of demonstration, King arrested Letter from a Birmingham jail to white religious leaders

8. Children’s Crusade 1,000 black children marched in Birmingham Police commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor arrested 959 of them. Second children’s crusade came face to face with helmeted policemen, attack dogs, Billy clubs and high pressure fire-hoses TV cameras captured everything and millions of viewers heard the children screaming Continued boycotts, protests and negative press coverage convinced Birmingham officials to end segregation

9. Police Brutality

10. Kennedy Takes a Stand Kennedy convinced he needed a new civil rights act to end violence June 11, 1963, he sent troops to force Governor George Wallace to honor a court order desegregating the University of Alabama That evening he went on television to address the nation

11. Kennedy’s Address to the Nation

12. Medgar Evers Hours after Kennedy’s speech highlighting racial tensions, Medgar Evers was assassinated in his own driveway Evers was a NAACP field secretary and a World War II (buried in Arlington) Byron de la Beckwith was arrested but release after two trials ending in hung juries 30 years later he was tried and found guilty

13. Medgar Evers

14. Marching on Washington Kennedy sent a civil rights bill to Congress that guaranteed equal access to all public accommodations and gave the AG ability to desegregated schools To persuade Congress to pass the bill, A. Phillip Randolph and Bayard Rustin (SCLC) summoned Americans to march on Washington August 28, 1963, more than 250,000 people converged on the nation’s capital to hear the “I Have a Dream” speech given by MLK

15. I Have a Dream…

16. More Violence Two weeks after the “I Have a Dream” speech, four young B’ham killed in a church bombing Two months later JFK assassinated July 2, 1964, LBJ signed the Civil Rights of 1964: prohibited discrimination bc of race, religion, national origin and gender –Gave citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, bathrooms, restaurants, etc…

17. Fighting for Voting Rights The ability for African Americans to vote in the South was nearly impossible –Literacy tests were tailored to make them harder for blacks –Freedom Summer: campaign to register blacks to votes specifically in Mississippi –Recruited college students to help –June 1964, three college students disappeared They had been arrested for speeding and then released into the hands of the KKK Bodies found beaten and dead –Racial beatings and murders throughout the summer

18. A New Political Party SNCC organized a new political party to gain a seat in Mississippi’s all white Democratic Party Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) Fannie Lou Hamer: Spoke at the DNC –Described how she was jailed for trying to register to vote –Police forced other prisoners to beat her Phone calls poured in supporting MFDP Eventually given two seats

19. Freedom Summer Murders

20. The Selma Campaign At the start of 1965, the SCLC started a major voting rights campaign in Selma with demonstrations and protests Jimmy Lee Jackson, demonstrator killed during the protests MLK responded by announcing a 50 mile march from Selma to Montgomery March 7, 1965, 600 protestors set out for Montgomery Mayhem broke out; caught on camera March 21, 1965, 3,000 protestors set out for Montgomery with federal protection The number grew to 25,000 along the way

21. From Selma to Montgomery

22. Voting Rights Act of 1965 Eliminated literacy tests Federal examiners could enroll voters who had been denied suffrage by local officials Selma: registered voters rose from 10% in 1964 to 60% in 1968 The overall percentage of registered black voters in the South tripled

23. We Didn’t Just March…

24. Civil Rights Acts of the 1950s and 1960s Did the black community triumph in their crusade?

25. Civil Rights Act of 1957 Established federal commission on civil rights Established a Civil Rights Division in the Justice Dept Enlarged federal power to protect voting rights

26. Civil Rights Acts of 1964 Banned most discrimination in employment and public accommodations Enlarged federal power to speed up school desegregation and protect voting rights Established Equal Opportunity Employment Commission to ensure fair treatment in employment

27. Civil Rights Act of 1968 Prohibited discrimination in the sale or rental of housing Strengthened anti-lynching laws Made it a crime to harm civil rights workers